In
the United States, service industries account for about 4 out 5 jobs, 68 percent
of GDP, and 79 percent of real GDP growth.
Services also account for nearly 70 percent of global GDP, and very
recently, the number of people around the world who work in services surpassed
the number who farm. Countries
benefit from the trade of services for the same reasons they benefit from trade
in goods: it lowers costs for consumers and businesses, enhances competition and
innovation, improves choice and quality, attracts investment, diffuses knowledge
and technology, and allows for efficient allocation of resources.

Barriers
to services trade are generally greater than for goods, with the corollary that
lowering services barriers will provide the greatest payoff for the U.S. and
world economy. By one estimate, the
U.S. economy would gain $460 billion from the removal of services trade
barriers. Developing countries, which tend to maintain relatively high services
trade barriers, have also increasingly come to view services liberalization as a
key development strategy that will not only help modernize their services
infrastructure, but also help unlock the potential of their manufacturing and
agricultural sectors.

In
its trade negotiations, the United States looks to promote open and transparent
trade in services, and to let its world class service providers compete on a
level playing field.